I’m continuing to publish some questions and answers from the book "Intervista su Tangentopoli" published by Laterza and edited by Giovanni Valentini.

GV:...Well in the end, what was the real reason that made you resign from the magistracy?
ADP: I decided to leave the role of prosecutor so that I could defend myself better. With my hands free and without the responsibility of carrying out investigations, I should have had a better possibility to fight against the calumnies and the defamations that were coming thick and fast against me. And I did manage to do this.
I wanted to bring home my honour at all costs. It was the only thing that interested me. In my heart I said: “as soon as I have concluded the Enimont enquiry, I will go. I absolutely must save Mani Pulite. My story as a man and as a magistrate is in that.”
What would have been left of the symbolic value of the enquiry if I too had been convicted? Those who had organised my delegitimisation were not at all interested in my personal position. They were motivated by having the possibility of saying: “See. We are all equal. You see, we are all guilty, no one is guilty. Let’s put an end to this affair and then we can resign ourselves. That’s how the world turns round.”

GV: That’s why on 6 December 1994 you took off your toga in the courtroom at the end of the interrogation of Cusani and you left the magistracy…

ADP: Take care. Let’s not get confused. On 6 December 1994 I didn’t resign from the magistracy. I took leave of absence. It was six months later in June 1995 that I resigned.
My initial intention was not to leave the magistracy, but to go though the procedures against me and then to return to the magistracy. That’s why I made a formal request to the CSM to be given leave of absence like many other colleagues in the judiciary or in Parliament when they have ministerial or institutional responsibilities.
It was senator Francesco Cossiga who advised me to become a consultant for the Parliamentary Committee on Slaughters. At his suggestion, I got in contact with the president Giovanni Pellegrino and that’s how I started my new job.
For a few months I was in “stand by” at the Senate and I was mostly busy with drafting a weighty report about the “Uno bianca” event involving the kidnappings and murders committed by police officers. In the meantime I wanted to see what happened…